Been doing some really shaky reps of 100kg on the bench press recently, but I need to keep doing them to keep it up. Every rep is life or death. Survivor.
Been doing some really shaky reps of 100kg on the bench press recently, but I need to keep doing them to keep it up. Every rep is life or death. Survivor.
Is it on liveleak?Originally Posted by Magic
No but the wife saw it.
No wonder she wants you out.
My gym recently bought a load of new stuff and I've been trying out a deadlift bar. It's knurled more so your hands get ripped up (+1 to the gloves are for cucks) but it's thinner and a lot more pliable so you can take the tension out of it. Anyone else used one? Are they considered 'cheating' as I've been able to stick on about another 30 kilos on since switching over?
I think most bars are 32mm, and proper deadlift bars are 28mm; but it must be a real piece of shit (or you deadlift about 300kg) if it has that much bend in it.
@rush is Friday supposed to be absolutely fucking savage on this program? 31 squats including a set of 3 rep maximum? In fact its like that for them all.
Ha, initially it is but the gradual progression session-by-session should make it easier.
There's also going to be an acclimatisation period where your body gets used to the programme (and particularly squatting 3 times a week). Once you get into the groove, it will feel as natural as you found your previous routine(s).
I've had such a devastating few days at work I've lost all motivation for this. Absolutely gorged at the weekend too. I'm staying away from home tomorrow night and leaving early in the morning so that's fucked my schedule up. Might go out on the bike tonight instead, clear my head. Fucking dreadful and so annoying as I was really enjoying it.
The DW gym in Dundee has some seriously massive blokes. It must be out of pure boredom to get so big.
What do you guys do for abs? Pissing about on the floor always feels fruitless and cable crunches don't do much either.
I try to mix it up quite a bit.
I do a fair amount of crunches and situps, but that's mainly for the sessions when I'm feeling a bit lazy, because they are quite easy to execute.
These are the main ones I do:
Leg raises:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4kQd9eWclE
(I do them with straight legs unlike the bloke in that vid tho)
Bar rotation (or whatever)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rm0Erg4P8xI
This one is really good IMO
Also Ball rotation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oJ5RVRaP3o
Then I always try to do a bunch of Planking at the end, or rotate with Side planks, raised leg planks, etc. Basically I've gotten the idea that planking is the shit dunno why.
For heavier ab exercises where you maybe only do 5-10 reps try the machines or this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fbujeH3F0E
Though it's not the most dynamic IMO, so I'd try to switch it up as much as possible.
Lol missed this.
Cheers, Maz.
Unless you're ripped Ab work has always struck me as pontless. The main compound lifts work your core anyway,
I don't think so. Your abs and core can take quite a lot anyway so doing stuff like deadlifts etc will work them for sure, but maybe not to the point where you break the muscles down enough to improve.
And besides, activating your abs & core doing for instance deadlifts isn't always all that obvious to do.
I'm with Idiotmouse. Squatting heavy-ish will do more for your core than anything else.
I think the problem with ab stuff is it's not obvious until you hit a good weight and you can see them. Unlike doing arms and having the gun show.
That lad who I used to try and avoid always bored on about his abdominal routine. Lose four stone, mate. That might work.
You guys have kinda summed up my thoughts. I think I'll step it up a bit and see if I notice any difference before sacking it off.
I read some shit about taking your shoes off to deadlift. What's the consensus on here?
I never wear shoes when lifting (in my garage). Feel I get much better stability barefoot.
It's just a stability thing. Brian Shaw deadlifts in Converse, which presumably have a flat, hard sole (I've never owned a pair); but most trainers have some cushioning, and half of them have a bit of a heel on them, so (I'm not sure at what weight it would kick in) your feet would sink into that stuff rather than being flat on the floor.
I've worn flat dunlops for the past 5 years for deadlifts and squats.
There's loads of bollocks like that about. Just wear what you're comfortable in and what allows you to lift the most with the best form.
Heavy weights fucks my runners up though.
Time for me to get back into this. You know that Stronglifts 5x5? Back when I was doing it before, a friend who's quite into his weightlifting said 5x5 was too much volume and 3x5 was enough. I was looking at this on reddit (it's their recommended beginner programme) and it's mostly just 3x5. Is that enough?
If you build into them properly it should be.
What do you mean by that?
It's a weird thing really. Thinking about how I would do it (as in what I would need to do for 3x5 to make improvements), getting yourself to the point where you start doing your working sets (the 3x5) would be a workout in itself, so having the days built around a press and deadlift/squat would take ages.
So you're just doing a massive warm-up?
I read if you want explosive strength 100% you need to warm up for an hour. Sack that.
When you say 'warm-up' you think half-arsed stretching and that; but this would need to be part of the routine, otherwise you will never be doing the sets at a weight that will test you enough to improve, and you end up something more like:
1x5 (with an increase each time)
1x5
1x5
1x5
3x5 (actual working sets)
Yeah, that's what I meant by warm up. Starting with light weights and working up to the working sets. I used to do that when doing the 5x5 but it didn't take too long. But then I suppose I didn't get that far.
I think the Stronglifts programme recommends going down to 3x5 after a while anyway (after so many failures and resets) but I'm wondering if I'll be okay on the lighter weights with just 3x5 as well?
I think 3x5 is enough, and if it isn't then just put the weight up.
It’s too much volume once you get too your maximum lifts. That’s why stronglifts changes to 3x5 once you stop progressing.
I massively struggled with Stronglifts. I think it is only any good for absolute beginners. If you have any weightlifting experience at all, you’re going to be lifting weights for 6 weeks or more before you even feel like you’re trying.
Rippertoe’s Starting Strength might be better, especially if you prefer 3x5, but I’ve never actually tried it. Mainly because I don’t trust my knee with Power Cleans.
Why? Surely you just start off with your max lifts?
Are you talking about starting with the empty bar eveey time?
I seem to remember there being an excel form where you put your max lifts in and it told you how much to lift. I did that and still found it too light. My squat in particular took an age to get up to a decent level again.
Oh. Don't think I ever used that. But I was a complete beginner before anyway.
This time I was just gonna start off with as much as I could manage for 5x5.
I've never really been doing stronglifts. Basically they only work when you do them really heavy, right? I usually work out alone and don't have a spotter, and I don't generally feel comfortable doing anything insanely heavy.
I'll do fairly heavy deadlifts, maybe where I can do only 3-4 reps sometimes (which for me is maybe 100-110kg or so), but I quite often also do something like 10x10 on 60kg or something else like that, which I'm much more (but perhaps too) comfortable with.
(I'm scared of injury, is why, even though I do think I have pretty good technique in most cases, I've been working out for long enough).
It says not to do that because you need to work up to your max so that you can power through it. If you go straight in at your max, you’ll struggle to add weight next time. I’m sure there’s a right balance, but I couldn’t find it.
I've been doing stronglifts 5x5 for a few months. I haven't had any issues with it. It's straight forward and I like the phone app.
First time I went I was doing the empty bar. Most are progressing nicely, overhead press is the only one I have issues with. Can't get 30kg 5x5 done for the life of me.
I do warm up sets starting with the empty bar and have no rest or brief rests up to my working set. Tend to get the lot done in about an hour, but obviously that's going to increase.
I just find it too strict. Some days I feel stronger than others. If I’ve just comfortably benched 70kg, I want to whack another 5 or 10 on and see how high I can go. Doing another 4 sets of it Just isn’t satisfying, plus, next time out, I may not feel up to it.
I’m a fan of low rep work outs, but I’d just play it by ear. If you feel like you can go heavier, do it. If you can’t, don’t, but try to get an extra rep or 2 in.
I struggled with the overhead press too, @dino. I think everyone does, to be fair.
Just make sure it touches your chest (sternum?) when you bring it down. You see so many people doing it from eye level.
Turns out I seem to have "Weightlifters Shoulder". I've had my second cortisone injection in the shoulder and it got a little bit better but still not good. Haven't been doing any pressing exercises for like 4-5 months now really, mostly just pull. Though I've been doing a lot of Chin-ups, and recently read that that isn't the best thing to do either, even though it doesn't seem to hurt in my shoulder when I do them.
So, I'm basically running out of things to do. At least problems in my foot and knee are a bit better, so I've been managing to go running a bit instead.
From what I read on it, it seems I should either wait and pray, for like many more months, or find someone to do surgery on the shoulder which I kind of would like to avoid.
I had that about 8 years ago after 2 years of heavy weight lifting. It stopped me lifting weights for around 8 months (although I did no proper physio during those months, just left it to heal). Thankfully I haven't had it since.
Boom
Good to see you around Boom.
Did you just stop working out cold turkey? Given how much you at least used to do it, that can't have been easy?
I'm really struggling myself to not at least do the back exercises that shouldn't really affect the shoulder. I like doing chin-ups but I think I have to do away with it for a while now
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